Patti & Robert 1968

I was on my fire escape yesterday with a friend visiting from europe because he was saying how cool and american fire escapes are so we went out there and took some pics, then I came across this picture on Scott Hug's blog The k-48 Bullet, Thanks Scott and check out his T-shirt sale today, more info on The k-48 bullet here

The Appeal of Messy Lives

There is a great piece in today's NY Times about the appeal of Mad Men. I've read a lot of articles on the subject but I feel Katie Roiphe really hit's the mark on this one. She feels we are so busy trying to lead these perfect lives and "working out" problems either with ourselves (see blog entry below) or with our partners that we are watching the show with a kind of smug superiority combined with a longing for just being able to let go and have fun without worrying about the consequences.

You can read her piece here....

Fire Island

My friends Mark and AA invited me out to their house for a few days.Niiice!

Robert Buck at Lehman Maupin

This piece by Robert Buck, part of the multi gallery exhibition "Lush Life" looks great now that it has acquired a little wabi sabi

Artforum 1981 vs Artforum 2010

Comparing these two summer issues, first from 1981 when I came to NYC for a break in the summer and this years summer issue..

General Idea at Moma

I'm really loving this new installation of the contemporary galleries in Moma overseen by the new associate director Kathy Hallbreich formerly of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. One room features 3 pieces by Canadien Art Collective "General Idea" relating to their fictious "Miss General Idea Pageant" which for them was a kind of metaphor for the art world, you can hear surviving General Idea member AA Bronson speak about it Here on the Moma website. The next room, "The '80's room" has two walls covered in General Idea's Aids wallpaper, with other artist's work hung on top of it. LOVE begat AIDS and AIDS dominated the artworld in the '80s and '90s. Warhol's gold Rorschack painting and Mapplethorpe's photo of a marble face along with Bruce Nauman's drawing of neon piece of sex turning to violence and Guerrilla Girl's posters are hung on top of the wallpaper making a representation of the far off '80s that feels very familiar to me but has never been told in quite this way since then. The room also holds on of Kady Noland's Aluminum "Patty Hearst" pieces and on the floor is a video moniter playing Laurie Anderson's "Oh Superman"...is this a pop music video? Is this an artists piece? I love the way it conflates those two genres.

Simon Hantai at Moma

The rehang of Moma's contemporary galleries on the first floor ids full of work that hasn't been shown there before and much of it is new to me. I loved this piece by Hungarian artist Simon Hantai. It seems at first like a generic abstraction but it emphasizes the fact that it's a record of it's own making, that's a quality I love in art. It's always there to some degree but often we get caught up in the image without paying too much attention to how it got there. This piece perfectly synthesizes process and result.

Evie Sands

How could I have not heard of her before, shes amazing! Thanks Ian

The Artworld

This has been a great week for me, I've re connected with a lot of old friends, cleaned out my studio a little bit and my work is on a lot of new walls. I was facing some serious financial trouble and I asked my friend Bill for some advice and he came up with the idea of offering a small amount of work at a low price. I had a group of paintings from 2006-2009, that had been shown a lot and I had already sold a lot from that group as well. They were my first real credible paintings and once I got it down I made a lot of them and I still had a fair amount of them left so I sent out an email offering the smallest ones for a really low price and was flooded with responses. Many people wanted to buy them but a lot of people were just like me, facing economic challenges of their own and could only offer support and encouragement. The responses blew me away. The good wishes and words of encouragement I received were priceless.

Over the last few years I've been thinking a lot about my life and how I am living it, wondering if I've made the right choices and what effect I've had on others. I know I am incredibly lucky to be living the life I am. When I was eight years old I told my parents that when I grow up I'm going to move to New York and be an artist. My dad laughed in my face and told me that was the stupidest thing he's ever heard. he told me that you have to come from a rich family to be an artist and since we were not rich....it just wasn't gonna happen. I had some inkling that it was gonna be a challenge and I got a late start at it, mostly because I was afraid that if I failed I would have no other options.

So I got a job at an advertising agency...it started as a temp job that I got through my friend Linda Simpson. Jane Folds, an impossibly cool ex-beatnick with a jazz musician husband, started offering me a permanent position but I didnt want to take it, finally I relented and joined the 9-5 world. I quickly got promoted with ensuing raises and benefits and six years later I got fired, yup, the best thing that ever happened to me. I was ready to start showing my work so I asked my friend Ellen Birkenblitt if she had any ideas of who might be interested in what I'm doing, she suggested I contact Bill Arning at White Columns and the rest is history..

Well...fast forward to the present and after 7 solo shows, a fantastic collection of art on my walls from trades and the realization that I am living exactly the life I wanted to live. I have to humbly say, Thanks to everyone who has made it possible and the incredible, supportive friends. Honestly, I gotta say the artworld is so full of kind, genuine compassionate people, from the young students I know to the superstars. I feel very lucky to be a part of this community and to be living the life I am living.

I love America